For some time, consumers have been able to purchase merchandise personalized to their own specific tastes. For instance, consumers of all ages have long enjoyed wearing T-shirts with their own personalized message printed on the front or back. However, buying customized goods like T-shirts has never been easy. Typically, a consumer wanting to purchase personalized merchandise would have to make a trip to the mall or store where such merchandise is sold. Once at the store, the consumer would have to wait in line for assistance, and then wait again while the merchandise was being created. Moreover, the consumer would only be able to view the final product after it had already been created. If the product did not look exactly the way the consumer wanted, many times the consumer would be forced to purchase the product anyway. For these reasons, purchasing customized products has not been a pleasant experience for consumers.
Another drawback for consumers wishing to purchase customized merchandise is that the types of goods that may be personalized have traditionally been very limited. For instance, consumers have long been able to purchase personalized T-shirts, but have been unable to purchase customized soda bottles, or other types of goods. Furthermore, consumers have never been able to purchase personalized goods that are branded with a manufacturers' trademark. For instance, consumers have never been able to purchase a soda bottle exactly the way it would appear on a retailer's shelf, and have it personalized to their specifications. Because of the brand awareness and goodwill that comes with many types of trade dress and trademarks, consumers are likely be interested in purchasing trademarked goods that can be customized to their specifications. However, there has never been a system available to consumers for purchasing such goods.
Therefore, in light of these problems, there is a need for a method and system for creating and ordering customized branded merchandise that allows a consumer to easily and conveniently purchase merchandise personalized to their own tastes. There is a further need for a method and system for creating and ordering customized merchandise that will allow a consumer to personalize a product with a graphic image and text supplied by the consumer, and to view a preview of the merchandise before it is manufactured. There is an additional need for a method and system for creating and ordering customized merchandise that allows the consumer to purchase merchandise branded with a manufacturer's trademark, and also personalized with a graphic image and text provided by the consumer.